Pencil 12.05.08

From Dan Thompson's Friday night class at the Art Students League.

Painted Sketch Class 18

Walnut Sun Oil

The jar on the left is the sun oil I made this Summer. It was left in the windowsill for about 3 months. The jar on the right is the Loriva unrefined walnut oil as it looks out of the bottle. I'm still figuring out how to use it, but it definitely dries fast and is sticky. The lid of the jar on the right is held open by pieces of oil-based clay so that air can get to the oil. I swirl the oil every night to keep it polymerizing uniformly, if that is the right term for it. I'm no expert, but I do like the feel of walnut oil as a paint extender and have done some painting with sun thickened oil before, enjoying the way it can sit on top of previously applied paint. What I was using before was Utrecht "Stand Oil" which yellowed quite a bit. We'll see how much better my walnut sun oil performs. I have high hopes. I was inspired by Tad Spurgeon's blog HERE.

"Brian Schumacher" - 12"X16"

This is the second painting completed in Brian Schumacher's open grisaille class, a painting of him actually. I very much enjoyed taking his class. He is a very helpful and insightful teacher. I feel I learned much just in four sessions. Unfortunately, I am working now on Saturday's and will be unable to continue studying with him unless circumstances change.

Pig

"Boot Heaters" study 8"x10.5"

Moving to NYC

For those of you who haven't heard, I am moving to New York City at the end of September. I started a new blog in honor of this stupendous event. You can find the link to it here.

My First ART CHICAGO

This was one of my favorite paintings from Art Chicago. It is by Odd Nerdrum whose paintings I had only seen online until now. I like the way he uses paint. He was represented by Forum Gallery. Another of my favorites was by Jeremy Long represented by Linda Warren Gallery in Chicago. I wish we had taken more photos.

Four Hour Study and Some Quick Sketches

Viking Warrior

This is my latest still life project. I haven't decided if it's done yet, but if it's not, it is very close.

Visit to the LACMA

Bevin and I visited L.A. this past weekend so that she could meet and interview some people involved with the International Latino Theatre Festival of L.A. We spent an hour or so at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and here I am in front of one of the many amazing paintings - Portrait of John Viscount Garlies, later 7th Earl of Galloway, as Master of Garlies by Anton Raphael Mengs, 1758.

Wow, this museum's collection from the Baroque period blows away that of the Art Institute of Chicago's! I was very impressed. I just wish we had taken more photos. Their website has images of their permanent collection: http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=browpage;dept=europ

Still Life in Black and White - approx. 16"X20"

This is a stil life that I worked on over the coarse of several months starting last fall.The first layer was done with ivory black, lead white and Turpenoid. The subsequent layers gradually shifted to lamp black and zinc white with more oil in the "sauce". You may be able to tell the difference in the color of the super-ball to that of the buddha.I learned a lot painting this scene. The light was very close and bright and it was important that the light that shown on my panel was of the same intensity otherwise my eyes would have to work too hard to go from one to the other. There are so many hightlights in this scene I was afaid that they would distract from each other. I was also concerned that the overall effect would be too dark if I tried to make them as bright as they appeared to me and my light sensitive eyes. This technique is a gradual build-up of layers, each one covering completely and attempting to contain more fat than the previous. Some of the last layers I got lazy and didn't completely cover the previous, so you can see the difference in the quality of the surface (it doesn't show in this scan). A coat of varnish might do the trick for that. Can anyone guess what material the figure in the back is made of?